Meet MENDO: meet Joost

Our series 'Meet MENDO' is where we introduce the people who make MENDO. In this episode: co-owner and founder Joost.

Although he doesn’t really like titles, co-owner and founder Joost Albronda could be considered as the creative director of MENDO: ‘Creativity is what drives all of us here, therefore everyone is creatively involved.’

However, Joost is the one that has been graphically responsible for some of our finer works. With a clean yet classic style, Joost treats the carefully curated images the way they deserve to be treated. ‘I get to work with very beautiful, and precious images. In creating a book, design elements can potentially add or remove things that were not the intention of the photographer. So you have to be very careful and treat the images the way they deserve to be treated. Every book should be handled differently.’

It resulted in some of the most successful MENDO projects so far. A legacy Joost probably never would have guessed he would have contributed to when he started working at Roy Rietstap’s advertising agency more than 20 years ago. ‘In all those years I’ve had six different titles without really switching jobs or applying for any. I started working at Roy’s company as a cleaner, now we’re co-owners of one of the most exciting companies there is.’

A journey that has developed around the close friendship of the two, later complemented by MENDO’s third co-owner Joeri Worm. ‘We started MENDO based on a gut feeling. We had some money, found a location and just got going. Because of our design background, we were always looking for visual inspiration. And at that time, internet wasn’t a thing everyone had in their pockets so we really needed these books for our work. Even now, we use the books we offer to inspire ourselves.’

‘If it wouldn't sound so corny, I would say the journey is far more interesting than the destination.’

‘If it wouldn't sound so corny, I would say the journey is far more interesting than the destination.’

Joost Albronda

Inspiration needed for the making of twelve, and counting, books partly designed by Joost. What once started as an advertising agency, transformed into a bookstore and eventually also became a publishing house. ‘Looking back, you could say everything happened quite organically and I truly believe MENDO wouldn’t be like this if it was any different. Without our background in design and our need for visual inspiration, we never would have opened the store. Without the store, we would never have been as credible as a publisher. MENDO could not have been conceived on a drawing board. It has been a constant development and we adapted and responded to change to come where we currently are.’

MENDO’s love for design, detail and a good product have always been the most important incentives. It has created a basis on which Joost intends to build something lasting. ‘We don’t want to hurry things. Every step we make, we make carefully because it’s not only a development of MENDO but also of the people of MENDO. If it wouldn’t sound so corny, I would say the journey is far more interesting than the destination.’